CASUAL AFFAIR. ( ryan reynolds )

005; CHAPTER FIVE

C H A P T E R  F I V E
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R I V E R

Ryan had been back home for only three days before he started unpacking his clothes. He had been putting it off because he knows he's just going to get reminded of everything that happened on holiday. And that's not because he hated what happened, he's just worried he's done something wrong by kissing Olivia. They haven't spoken properly since it happened and Ryan's afraid he's pushed her away even more.

      He got up from his couch and walked over to his suitcase, dragging it to his bedroom and flinging it on his bed, sighing as he drops it. He didn't realise he took that much stuff away with him for his suitcase to be that heavy. Once he's unzipped his suitcase, he notices an item of clothing in his suitcase that he's never seen before. It's sat directly underneath the shorts at the top of the pile of clothes in his suitcase, so he lifts those out and takes the unidentified item out—which is exactly when he realises what it is.

     It must've happened when he went to get his toiletries from the bathroom. She put it in there on purpose, how else would she get an excuse to come and see him again. On one hand he's glad he found it, now they can finally see each other and talk about the obvious elephant in the room—but on the other hand, it means she has to come over and collect the item and they might get themselves carried away. She is his biggest distraction after all.

     He takes his phone from his pocket and dials her parents' home phone number, that way he doesn't have to talk to her straight away and panic. He can ask her parents to put her on the line and figure out how the hell he's going to ask her to come over so she can pick up her swimsuit. The same small white two piece he picked out for her three weeks ago. Something tells him this swimsuit is going to be important to him.

     "Hi Ryan, is everything alright?" It was Rachel, thankfully. If Olivia's father had picked up, that might have been an awkward conversation. At least with Rachel, she's more open and, in the nicest way possible, more gullible than Daniel. He'd think of so many ways as to why he should come pick up the swimsuit instead of Olivia, yet still has no clue that his best friend has kissed his daughter.

"Yeah yeah, everything's fine. I was just unpacking and I uh, I found something of Olivia's. Must've just picked it up with a pile of clothes by accident. Is she alright to come pick it up?" He's getting good at lying, I mean he's going to have to if he wants to keep seeing Olivia behind their backs. Never in a million years did he ever think he was going to end up in a situation like this but he wouldn't change a thing. As much as it hurts him, he loves Olivia and he's not ready to lose her.

     "Oh, of course she can. While she's at it, she picked up one of your socks as well. Guess that's because you shared a room. You have no idea the amount of things I had packed in my suitcase that were Daniel's. He's lucky I was there, I'm always picking up after him." Ryan just laughed softly, listening to her rabbit on. She wasn't wrong though, Daniel would be lost without her. Her and Daniel were the only reason why he ever wanted to get married. The love they had for each other was something Ryan always yearned for—he just wanted to find that special someone and settle down. And at first he thought that was his soon to be ex wife. But now he thinks that it's Olivia, and even though that scares him, he knows he'll be finally happy.

     "That's great, thank you. And oh I know, at least you keep him sane." He knew Rachel would smile at that, if she wasn't around, he'd be running around like a headless chicken. Talking to Rachel just keeps Ryan thinking about Olivia, and how Daniel and Rachel have a proper family, something Ryan has always wanted. His wife always hated the thought of having her own children so Ryan never really brought it up.